As Program Director, Dr. Proctor is responsible for coordination of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP). The HMP is an eight-year, trans-NIH Common Fund Initiative to create a toolbox of resources for this emerging field. During the first phase of HMP (2008-2012), resources which were developed included bacterial, viral and fungal strains and their genome sequences, phylogenetic and metagenomic sequence data from the microbiomes of healthy adults and from a collection of cohort studies of patients with specific gut, skin or urogenital diseases. Computational tools for phylogenetic and metagenomic data analysis, and single cell genomics and novel cultivation approaches as well as ELSI studies in human microbiome research rounded out the resources for this phase.

For the second phase of HMP (2014-2016), an integrated dataset of biological properties, to include transcripts, proteins and metabolites, from both the microbiome and host will be developed as a community resource. These datasets are being developed from three different systems - IBD, diabetes and pre-term birth - as exemplar models of microbiome-associated conditions or diseases. Computational tools to analyse these complex datasets will also be developed as a resource.

Dr. Proctor joined the Division of Genomic Sciences in the Extramural Research Program in 2010. Prior to this she served as Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Geosciences and the Biosciences Directorates, where she managed microbiological, bioinformatics and research resources programs. She is formally trained in microbial ecology, was a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Fellow in molecular microbial genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has held appointments at Florida State University and at the University of California, Santa Cruz.